Fore Golf - Such a shame....

Mizuno Man

I'm a fairly low handicap golfer and have been playing pretty well for most of the year. Been thinking about changing shafts in my irons to get my ball flight down a little more and possibly thinking about new irons entirely.

So I'll head off to a fitting session somewhere with a launch monitor and try a few different options and see how things go. I have a good idea of what I'm looking for so fingers crossed.

The thing that's such a shame is looking at Foregolfs website. I have heard before that they won't give you any details on what their findings are following a fitting unless you buy from them but it's pretty disappointing to see the Q&A section on their website. Such lame excuses for not giving the info out and for not taking the price of a fitting session off the cost of clubs if you buy from them. They explain that their clubs cost more than retailers because they are "hand-made" and all that stuff but fail to see that if they charge more for the clubs because of the higher quality build, then why do they need to charge for the fitting at the same time? Is the extra work and quality not paid for in the higher price clubs???

I know they are the best at what they do. I know they have a wonderful reputation. But I find it sad that someone can't pay them for their expertise during a fitting and take that information away with them. I'd love to get a proper fit and know what my options are. But I simply can't afford 50 quid a shaft or 1 grand clubs on top of a 50 euro or 100 euro fitting. So I'll have to go another route.

Seems such a strange way to do business.....pay for a service but not get any information or benefit from that service unless you fork out for new clubs....

Just wanted to get that off my chest!!

thewobbler

Just because you reallly really want something doesn't mean it's wrong when you can't have it MM.

Sounds to me like you want a Mercedes garage to tell you what to look out for in a 2nd hand Ford.

Mizuno Man

thewobbler wrote: »

Just because you reallly really want something doesn't mean it's wrong when you can't have it MM.

Sounds to me like you want a Mercedes garage to tell you what to look out for in a 2nd hand Ford.

I know what you're getting at wobbly but it's not really the same thing!

I can have it if I want but I'll to pay more for it than anywhere else and without knowing what I'm getting until I put 50% of the money down.

Sure I want to have my cake and eat it too I guess, I can see that. But I still find it odd to advertise things like a full bag check for 100 euro when really what you are doing is placing a 100 euro, non-refundable deposit on a set of clubs that you don't know you want yet. If you don't buy the clubs, you get zero value for money for your 100 euro. No feedback, no information, and you leave none the wiser.

That would be more like my Mercedes garage charging me 100 euro to tell me I need some things fixed on my car but I won't know what they are until I pay the labour up front. Sure I might get a nice car at the end of it, but I would like the option to pay for their opinion at the start and decide whether to proceed with repair afterwards!!

k.p.h

They don't provide the service you are looking for so don't go their MM. Your the customer so its you right to take you business elsewhere. That's my official stance on their service.

My own personal sentiment is it's a disgrace that as the best fitting service in the country the don't actually provide what constitutes as a fitting without trying to con you into buying clubs off them.

It's just a backwards way of getting money out of you. It would be OK if the fitting was free and then the option of buying the clubs was their but to charge you to demo their clubs.! It stinks of Irishness.

And in your words your 100e non refundable deposit only go's on top of what are full price clubs. It's a rip off, and while it might leave you with a nice set of clubs that are well fit you are after paying over the odds for them and are still none the wiser about your technical setup(which you paid them 100e to figure out and not tell you).(Is it 50e or 100e I'm not sure)

Just to add the standard in the US or UK is when you pay for a fitting you get all the details and are not required to buy. More often than not the fitting is 100% free with an option to buy. Or even occasionally the fitting is free with all the details included too. I think foregolf need to do one or the other, give the details or else do the fitting for free.

mag

i have no affiliation with fore but my fitting was very good, way beyond the hour mentioned & although the exact specs werent given (on the printout they give at the end of the fitting) they were told to me during the fitting. so nett is, for me - i got a really comprehensive fitting, there was no pressure to buy from them and my specs were made known to me. in the end i got their recommendations in my driver & 3w (re-shafted) and went elsewhere for my irons (due to price).

Mizuno Man

Some people like yourself mag seem to get some info during the session, while others get half answers and waffle to avoid providing any detail at all. I just can't afford that risk really.

I completely accept that they can do business whatever way they like. But if any other business behaved that way they would be slammed for it. A clubfitter world title doesn't quite allow you to get away with cheeky business practices in my book and in fairness I can't see why they need to do things that way anyway. I would have thought the title alone would have people flocking to see them.

Imagine bringing your car into a garage with a rough running engine. They charge you 100 euro to assess your car. If there is nothing wrong with it they will tell you but if it needs to be fixed they refuse to tell what the problem is until you pay for the repair. Nobody would accept that and there would be a bunch of people on here giving out about that garage if it existed. Even if they were considered the best garage on the planet.

Why should forgolf be any different?

headmaster

Mizuno Man,
Why should forgolf be any different?

They are different and will remain different while people continue to pay them. If enough were more like you and refused to do so, they would soon come down to earth. It's a bit like Sky TV and their Irish subscription charge being the most expensive out there. It's that price because the customer is prepared to pay it, if enough people stop buying the product, then it would soon come down in price. It's called supply and demand and has nothing whatever to do with fairness. You may not like what i've told you, but, IT IS THE ANSWER TO YOUR QUESTION. Ok?

rafared

Mizuno Man wrote: »

Some people like yourself mag seem to get some info during the session, while others get half answers and waffle to avoid providing any detail at all. I just can't afford that risk really.

I completely accept that they can do business whatever way they like. But if any other business behaved that way they would be slammed for it. A clubfitter world title doesn't quite allow you to get away with cheeky business practices in my book and in fairness I can't see why they need to do things that way anyway. I would have thought the title alone would have people flocking to see them.

Imagine bringing your car into a garage with a rough running engine. They charge you 100 euro to assess your car. If there is nothing wrong with it they will tell you but if it needs to be fixed they refuse to tell what the problem is until you pay for the repair. Nobody would accept that and there would be a bunch of people on here giving out about that garage if it existed. Even if they were considered the best garage on the planet.

Why should forgolf be any different?

I totally agree with you MMan. I wouldnt part with a 100E unless I was getting a full print out of my stats/ figures with each club. Im sure, based on what has been posted on Boards before that their service is comprehensive but they are trying to force you to buy clubs from them at a premium rate. The cost of the fitting should be part of any deal anyway.
Rip off Ireland at its finest.

Diageo1

i'm sick of all the pro foregolf reviews from people who dont know what they are talking about,

The vast majority of people that go to them have never been fit before in their life or has been years and the equipment is so far away from being suited to them an assistant pro in any golf club could fit them and make a big improvment

I am a low cat 1 hcap and have been fit about 8 times over the years everywhere from club pro/mcguirks/fitting center in Birr/ foregolf/titleist fitting center carton and by far the best fit was carton with Birr pretty close

Forgolf are great business people, charming, make you feel welcome but the fit is poor, didnt even use a launch monitor, no results, quick and rushed out the door with the wrong fit to take the money off the next punter. when I rang I asked for a 2hr fit as if i'm spending 2k on a set of clubs I want no stone left unturned, I was told 1hr was plenty and in the end it was a waste of my €100. The irons were not far off the mark but driver he specked would have been a disaster and waste of €350.

This is my personal experience and believe i'm in a good position to comment due to my experience in golf and the process of getting fit

Mizuno Man

headmaster wrote: »

Mizuno Man,
Why should forgolf be any different?

They are different and will remain different while people continue to pay them. If enough were more like you and refused to do so, they would soon come down to earth. It's a bit like Sky TV and their Irish subscription charge being the most expensive out there. It's that price because the customer is prepared to pay it, if enough people stop buying the product, then it would soon come down in price. It's called supply and demand and has nothing whatever to do with fairness. You may not like what i've told you, but, IT IS THE ANSWER TO YOUR QUESTION. Ok?

I totally understand and agree with you headmaster. If their strategy didn't work they most likely wouldn't be doing it. And me ranting on here shouldn't and won't change their plan if they make money from it.

I guess I just felt that the first reply here was more or less saying that I should just suck it up and accept it. Which of course I have to. But I don't think that should mean I can't speak my mind and say I think it is pretty cheeky.

If someone went to a restaraunt and got awful service, they won't go back. But sometimes they might feel the need to tell other people about it aswell. That's where I'm coming from if you understand. Too many people I think don't realise that, in general, by going to foregolf for a fitting, you are basically committing to buying relatively quite expensive clubs from them, or if you don't buy, accepting that you will receive no benefit from the process at all and have to start all over again with somewhere else.

I don't think they should change what they do based on my ridiculous internet rantings, but I still think it's a feckin' Irish attitude from a time only recently gone by.

thewobbler

Custom fitted 8 times over the years. Sweet jesus. People like you make the money go round I suppose.

I'd think If you're fit to tell the difference between a good custom fit and a bad one, then you don't need a fitting - you should be able to specify what's what.

Obviously not, if 2 above is to be believed.

Jasonw

Jasonw wrote: »

Your experience is indeed misleading Red Army. Foregolf do not give out technical specs prior to purchase. I know this also as a customer of theirs.

Fitting wise they are top notch, as are the Titleist fitting centre in Carton house. I can't say I agree with their policy of with holding specs though. They say this is for quality control purposes but you may be sure it is to force you to buy from them.

I've said this before and I'll say it again here, Unless you're 100% committed to buying from them, don't go for a fitting there. You are only wasting your 100 euro.

I asked Derek for the specs of my woods so that I could try them out on the golf course as my friend had the same driver. It's worth noting that I had already purchased a set of Irons from them. After a long drawn out process he eventually gave them to me, afterwards accusing me of lying about my reasons for asking.

As he said himself in the same conversation, "if you're not buying clubs from us, I'm losing money on the fitting and I don't want your business" - That's a direct quote by the way. I did point out that I had just paid him 850 euros - I bought the woods from Carton House in the end after also going for a fitting there.

Not all feedback on boards is pro-foregolf. I wrote the above in another foregolf thread.

I know exactly what you mean about Foregolf being charming and making you feel welcome, but I have some news for them, putting your arm around me and calling me "mate" after only meeting me an hour ago may work on some people but most can see through it for what it is. It may be true that we buy from people we like, but I'd have to like you a whole lot better to pay the quoted €375 euro for a driver that I bought from my local Pro for €300.